After setting up camp, we walk toward the lake. In one heart-stopping moment, we step beyond the trees to this amazing sight of Takhlakh lake & Majestic Mt Adams!

What a great way to end the day, a sunset with moonrise. Below are shots from the first two nights.

The second night's moonrise, the moon rose more to the left...

A few sunrise shots... what a way to start the day!

Trial run with the new raft we bought just for this trip.

My wife, Iryn, has never caught a fish before and we were hoping to change that.
On this day, we fished for four hours and nary a bite, so Iryn just relaxed.

The next evening, we changed from lures to green powerbait which some campers suggested.
It took awhile to find the right spot that the campers also suggested, then
we started getting bites around 7pm. Iryn getting excited with the bites.

Here is Iryn's first ever trout caught at 7:26pm. She is one happy camper!

We went back to the same spot the next evening, no bites until around 7pm.
Iryn's second fish escaped right as she got it to the raft!
Iryn's second nice trout!

No more napping! The fish biting has gotten Iryn's undivided attention!

Me? I had to do all the hard work, like rowing. I enjoyed every minute of it.

This Osprey came flying right over our raft probably hoping to steal our fish!

Later, Osprey caught his own fish.

The Osprey flying off toward Mt Adams.

Nice end to a great day! Iryn caught three more trout.

Moonrise as we left for our campsite.

We had trout and huckleberries for dinner two nights in a row.

Finished the night roasting Marshmallows and Hersey bars over campfire.

Wednesday, We hiked the Takh Takh Meadows Trail and picked lots of Huckleberries along the way.

Thursday, we hiked the Chain-of-Lakes Trail and picked more Huckleberries.

Iryn picking more huckleberries on Chain of Lakes hike

This is our planned hike for next year.

Iryn got some swimming in after the hikes!

On our last day, we hiked around the lake and ended up in this nice viewpoint.
I told Iryn I wanted to stay at this spot one last half hour hoping to see that Bald Eagle
that has eluded me all week that I was told that resided here.

Here is the Bald Eagle story about the shot that got away. I was told there was a Bald Eagle hanging out at the lake, At the end of the hike around the lake, we found this great spot to watch the lake with Mt Adams in the background, so I told Iryn I'd be back at camp after one last half hour of hoping for the Bald Eagle or Osprey to show up. Sure enough 10 minutes later, a Osprey was flying over the left side of lake and I was following it with my Nikon D7100 with Sigma 150-600mm lens and out of the corner of my eye, I saw action to the right... looked and saw a Bald Eagle diving in for a fish! DANG!!! I missed that shot! ...as it was, he didn't catch a fish, but it would have been a great one to catch with the camera. I managed to get him flying toward a tree and landing in it. It was a long shot as he flew to the other side of lake, then to the top of a large tree overlooking the lake. I was told later by the host camper that was his favorite tree. As you will see from my first few shots as I zoomed in, I needed all of my 600mm. I started with 150mm (look very closely at that pic and you will see the eagle sitting in the tree, tiny dot) and then worked my way to 600mm. Still a ways away, but better than nothing. Now that I know the tree he likes to hang out at, I will get closer next year with the raft. What a way to end my last half hour at this fantastic place!

As these two shots were from across the lake, I had to crop in 100%

Iryn trying a different way under log on the trail that goes around Takhlakh Lake.

A Chipmunk and some birds I saw while hiking.

No motorize boats made this a better lake! Here are some boats we saw.

Now for the sad part, leaving Paradise for home.
Goodbye until next year...

Just reserved same dates as last year for 2017!
I'm doing conditioning training so I can hike the Divide Camp hike! August can't get here soon enough!!!